Disclaimer: I don't own anyone who was ever in the game or in the show.

Author's note: Whoo hoo! Next chapter! On with the story!

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Quatre's breath became faster. Frankly, he was terrified. An army of some sort was passing by while he and his friend hid in destroyed buildings, and now he had a hand over his mouth and someone telling him to keep quiet.

'Please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me, please don't hurt me…'

The voice came back, sounding less threatening, but still urgent. It was still whispered from right next to his ear, and he still couldn't move away from the female that held him captive.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I will let you go, but right now you'll have to trust me and hope for the best. Understand?"

He forced his breathing to slow. The words sounded genuine, but who could tell if this person was being honest? She was right though; all he could do is trust her and do as she said. He nodded slightly, just enough so she knew he agreed.

"Good," whispered the hushed voice. "You'll need to play dead until NOD passes. I'll let you go when it's safe, alright?"

Quatre paced his breathing. He's had to play dead before, when he needed to pass off as a dead civilian. It wasn't easy, but he managed to pull it off. He fervently hoped he could do it again. After a few breaths he felt he had regained enough breath to start acting, and he nodded again.

The female's hand was removed from his mouth and another arm wrapped around his chest. Her other arm loosened from around his chest slightly, and he felt a head rest against the right side of his, the chin resting on his shoulder. He heard her inhale very slowly, so her chest wouldn't rise so fast that someone would be able to tell she was breathing. The blonde Arabian took this as his cue to start. He relaxed completely, letting his head come to rest on his chest. He stilled his breath, finishing his pretend death. He tried to form a mental picture of what he looked like; eyes closed, not apparently breathing, and completely limp. His pale skin and the blood on the shirt would make the scene more believable.

His mind suddenly jumped. Of course! That's why she had her arms around his chest! To cover the bullet holes! If one of those soldiers saw the bullet hole and bloodstains but no wound, they would suspect something.

He suddenly heard the clank of armor nearby, and he listened carefully. He could hear what sounded like two people approaching; quite possibly two from the Infantry he saw earlier.

"Over here!"

The voice was barely audible over the sound of the heavy machinery slowly rolling by, but it was sudden enough to catch his attention. The sound of the two people approaching became closer, and their words became more understandable. Both were male. One was located in front of him, and the other was to his right.

"I could've sworn I saw something move," said the one in front of him. His voice was deeper than the other, so Quatre mentally called him Deep Voice.

"You're full of it; they're already dead." This one sounded younger than the other one, and he was given the nickname Young.

"Shut it," growled Deep Voice. "I'm a higher rank than you, you know."

Young didn't seem to respond to the statement, but rather paused. Quatre wondered for a moment if he was scrutinizing the "bodies". "Kids. Looks like they were a couple."

Deep Voice just snorted in amusement of Young's observation. "So what. They're just corpses now."

Quatre felt a sharp kick to his right thigh with steel boots. He forced himself to have no reaction as he and the girl both fell to their backs, rolling onto their left sides.

"We'd better go," said Young, sounding unfazed by the actions of Deep Voice. "Cyborgs wait for no one."

Quatre's mind gave a shock. 'Cyborgs!'

He heard the sound of the two men walking away. His mind fumed. He felt sure that this NOD group was the one that destroyed the city and killed the residents. His shoulders twitched with rage.

"Not yet…"

Her words were faint and he could barely hear them, but he got the message. He forced himself to relax and stored his anger for later. He desperately wanted to open his eyes and see the "Cyborgs" he'd heard about, but he knew it was too dangerous. He would have to wait until the female holding him let him go.

Duo Maxwell had an advantage from his hiding place; he could see without being seen. He sat on his legs, his meter-long braid slung over his shoulder and collecting in his lap as he pressed his eye up against the bullet hole to see everything he could.

He lost sight of Quatre after the motorcycles went by, amazed by the technical superiority from what he usually saw. The armor was red and reflected the light of the sun brilliantly. The strange, stocky vehicles armed with machine guns zipped by, riding close to the ground. Large tanks trudged by, looking rather menacing with their large barrels. Then came the Infantry, keeping pace behind the tanks with apparent relative ease. The American watched all these go by, his eyes wide with amazement.

'I knew it!' he mentally cried. 'There's a war going on!'

Then, from the dust left by the vehicles and Infantry, came something that made Duo force himself to hold in a gasp.

It had the head of a human, but the rest of it was purely mechanical. A heavy multi-barreled machine gun replaced their right hands, completely taking up the forearm. A small red eyepiece covered over their left eyes. Wires ran from the head to every part of the robotic body, controlling every movement. They moved slowly, but they looked nearly unstoppable.

Duo felt his hands tremble. His heart pounded so loud he was afraid the abominations would hear and discover his presence. His breath caught in his throat and his jaw dropped. He couldn't stop staring until the last one passed him by; then he noticed that Quatre, who he had last seen peeking out from behind the empty doorway, was nowhere to be seen. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two infantry men join the rest of the army from a large hole in the side of the building Quatre was hiding in.

Duo gasped. What if they caught Quatre? What would they do to him?

He then noticed, thanks to a small hole in the base of the wall, his friend's head and shoulders. His eyes were closed and he showed no sign of breathing. There was something behind him that Duo couldn't identify; but he didn't really care. The first thought in his mind was that the infantry men had shot him. His legs began to twitch. He wanted so badly to get up and run to his friend, but it wouldn't be safe until he couldn't see those… things anymore. Taking his chance, he crawled over to the doorway and peeked around what remained of the doorframe, trying to get a better view of his friend. He knew he couldn't shout to him; it would be too risky.

The wait was agonizing; it felt like it took hours for the monstrosities to disappear. But once they did Duo shot up and out of the ruined building, running for the doorway of the building on the other side. Just before he emerged into the doorway, Quatre's eyes opened and he sat up, the girl that was with him doing the same. They were climbing to their feet when the American ran in, not even giving the Arabian enough time to dust himself off before being caught in his friend's tight embrace, his arms pinned to his sides as a rush of air left him because of the pressure.

"Quatre! You scared me half to death!" He released his friend only to hold his shoulders, holding him an arm's length apart, talking nonstop. The girl was forgotten for the time being. "Are you alright? Did you see those things? They were huge and full of wires; and those tanks were huge and the guys with the armor and-"

The blonde put his hands on his friend's shoulders, looking straight into his blue eyes. "Duo! Calm down! I can't understand a word you're saying!"

Duo stopped talking to take a few breaths. "Okay, I'm fine now."

Quatre released his friend. "Okay. Now, start again, only this time talk slower. You lost me after the 'half to death' part."

The braided boy released his friend also, gesturing wildly with his hands. His mind had kicked back into overdrive, his experiences from the day overwhelming him. "Are you okay? Because I saw the guys leaving and you were laying there and it looked like you were dead-"

"Duo!"

"Right. Sorry."

"Duo, I'm fine."

"Great. Second of all, did you see those… those things behind the infantry?"

Quatre shook his head. "I was playing dead and couldn't open my eyes. What did they look like?"

Duo was still gesturing wildly, trying to show his friend how big they were. "They were about this tall, had a human head, and their guns were this big! They had wires everywhere and they looked scary as-"

"Okay Duo, I get the point," said the blonde Arabian gently as he caught both of Duo's wrists as they swung outwards. "I think you need to sit down."

"Cyborgs," came a voice from behind them.

Both young men turned quickly to see a young woman, about their age, standing before them. She had on a faded teal shirt with faded blue jeans, and combat-style boots. A belt around her hips held a small sheath for a small, army-type knife with a black handle. Over that she wore an open, long, hooded, dark brown trench coat with the hood down. She had straight brown hair that reached past her shoulders and amber-colored eyes. Her face held no emotion as she approached the two young men.

"They're Cyborgs. NOD uses them as an advanced infantry unit."

Quatre, after recovering from his initial surprise, narrowed his eyes in thought as he recognized her voice. "You… You're the one that told me to play dead." His eyes returned to their normal size and a grateful smile appeared. "You saved my life. Thank you."

A faint smile appeared on her face. "I'm Arianna."

"I'm Quatre, and this is my friend Duo," he introduced as he gestured towards the American who now stood beside him.

"Could you tell us what exactly is going on here?" the braided American asked, tilting his head slightly to one side. "Because we're… well, a bit lost."

Arianna shook her head, the faint smile disappearing. "It's too dangerous out here in the city. We'll be safer back at home."

Duo looked at Quatre. "We'll have to get Heero and the others before we go."

"There's more of you?" Arianna asked, one eyebrow slightly lowered.

Duo nodded, looking at her. "Yep. Three of them. They went to go check something out over in the distance over there." He pointed behind him, indicating which direction his friends had gone. "They thought it might be another city or something."

Arianna's eyes suddenly went wide. Her voice held a tone of urgency and she suddenly put a hand on Quatre's arm. "How long ago did they leave?"

"About an hour ago. Why?" Quatre looked concerned. Her eyes were almost scared; why did she have that reaction?

"That's not a city!" She suddenly took both boys by a wrist, and nearly dragged them out of the building and out on to the road, running in the direction Duo had pointed. "A Fiend sleeps in that field! If they disturb it, it'll kill them!"

The two boys were still confused, but the last three words of her sentence were enough to motivate them. They ran alongside her, churning up dust and sand as their feet hit the ground.

It took them fifteen minutes to leave the city, then another fifteen before they met up with the other three pilots. Sand flew as both parties started to slow their running pace to keep from colliding into each other.

"Trowa!" Quatre cried at the sight of his friend lying unconscious in the sand, bleeding with a green crystal impaled into the back of his leg. The five young people surrounded the injured youth

"What happened to him!" Duo cried as he kneeled by his friend's head. Trowa was drenched in sweat and he breathed deeply through clenched teeth.

Before either Heero or Wufei could respond, Arianna quickly drew out her blade. "No time!" She held out the hem of her shirt and plunged her knife into it, running it along until she had cut a good length around the edge. She then severed the strip from the rest of her shirt, handing it to Wufei since he was the closest. "Once I pull it out, tie that around his leg."

"Pull it out! He'll bleed worse!" cried Quatre in a mix of surprise and panic.

The female looked up at him, her face set. "If we don't get that shard out now, he'll die… and then he'll kill us."

Heero's eyes narrowed, almost as if he was carefully judging how much he could trust her. It was a few moments before he spoke. "… Right."

Arianna nodded. "Hold him down. The more he moves, the worse it'll be."

Duo and Quatre held down Trowa's shoulders; Duo on his right and Quatre on his left. Wufei held the wounded leg while Heero held down the other. Arianna shed her coat, then quickly and suddenly put both of her hands around the crystal and began to pull.

Trowa's eyes suddenly opened wide, his pupils shrinking from the sudden exposure. They then shut tightly as he tossed his head back and screamed in pure agony. He began to thrash around, squirming and writhing. Duo and Quatre almost had to put their full weight on him to keep him from moving.

Wufei was using every bit of his strength to keep Trowa from kicking the girl in the face as he struggled. Seeing movement out of the corner or his eye, he risked a glance only to have his eyes widen in shock. Arianna responded to Trowa's movement by tightening her hold on the crystal and pulling harder. Blood began to run down her hands, emerging from between her thumbs and forefingers. The sharp edges of the crystal shard were cutting into her hand and making them bleed profusely. He could only imagine what it felt like, considering what happened to Heero when he almost touched one of the crystals.

"UNH…!"

The shard began to slowly slide out from Trowa's leg. He continued to scream and writhe in a hysterical fashion. The crystal slowly moved for about two inches before Arianna gave it a sudden yank, removing it completely in one swift movement. Trowa gave a final spasm accompanied with a seemingly extra loud scream before collapsing to the sand, falling silent and unmoving. Arianna flung the bloody crystal away from them before cradling her hands, which were still dripping blood. Wufei quickly wrapped the cloth around his friend's leg and over the gaping hole, tying the makeshift bandage on the opposite side of the leg from the wound. It wouldn't be long before the cloth would become soaked, and he knew it.

Quatre quickly moved to Arianna's side. Seeing the deep cuts in her hands, he quickly took her knife from her belt. She did nothing to stop him; she just sat hunched forward, fingers curled but her hands remaining out of a fist, teeth clenched and eyes shut tightly in a grimace of pain. The blonde Arabian did what he had seen her do; he cut a long strip of cloth from the hem of his shirt. Only this one he cut into two strips; he proceeded to wrap the girl's hands, each cloth going over the wound several times before he tied them off.

As he did this, Heero moved next to Duo and put two fingers to Trowa's neck. "He's still with us. We have to get him out of here. He won't last long without medical attention."

Quatre carefully helped Arianna to her feet. "Thank you," she said weakly.

"I'm just returning the favor," he replied gently.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Duo, worry furrowing his brow.

"I know where we can go." Arianna carefully picked up her coat with just her fingers, then walked over to the fallen pilot and carefully placed it over him. "Someone will have to carry him. As long as he stays alive, we'll be fine. If he dies, we'll have to drop him and run. I'll take you to my home. It'll be a few hours before the toxin settles in and I loose consciousness."

"Toxin?" asked Wufei, genuinely surprised. "You mean these crystals are poisonous?"

She nodded. "That's why they hurt so much." She took a few steps towards the west. "I live this way."

The cloak was wrapped around Trowa and Heero carefully slung his unconscious friend over his shoulders and began to carry him.

"I'll take him next," offered Wufei.

They followed Arianna west, knowing that the life of their friend was in her hands.

The sun was setting in front of them, making it hard to see objects in the distance. Heero had let Wufei take Trowa about halfway though the trip; the 03 pilot still hadn't woken up, his bandage was blood-soaked, he still took deep breaths from clenched teeth, and he still sweat from fever.

"Are we there yet?" asked Duo; sounding a lot like a little kid whom was bored in a car trip. It had an opposite effect on his friends that what one would expect. Duo's whining was a welcome distraction from the fading heat of the desert and fatigue.

"Almost. It's not far now. Just a little further…" Arianna was doing poorly herself; her bandages had become blood-soaked as well, she had become prone to stumbling, perspiration from her rising temperature collected on her forehead, and her breathing had become deep. Quatre stayed at her side, keeping her from falling to the sand when she stumbled.

Wufei had been carrying Trowa for nearly and hour and a half, and he was tired. He still pushed on however, only stopping when his left knee weakened. He stumbled forward a step, then landed hard on his knees. He kept a tight hold on his friend throughout the fall to prevent himself from dropping him.

"Uh!…"

Heero and Duo were at his side in an instant and Quatre took Arianna's arm, bringing her to a stop.

"You alright Wufei? Do you want one of us to take him now?" asked Duo as he kneeled down next to his friend on one knee in the sand. He was concerned that his friend was exhausted and yet was still carrying his wounded friend.

Wufei forced himself to his feet. "I'm fine. If it won't be long until we get there, I can still carry him."

"There it is!"

Arianna's shout startled them all. They all looked to the west to see a long stretch of black wall with buildings behind it. They could see two towers with spotlights that continually moved back and forth behind the wall. It was barely visible with the light of the setting sun behind it, but still there.

For the first time since they had known her, Arianna smiled and laughed. She pointed to the structures. "We're almost there! I don't have much time left, so we'll have to hurry!" She began to run towards her home, her strides short and awkward. Quatre ran to keep pace with her. Heero and Duo each put an arm around Wufei, sharing his load and helping him run.

It took them only a few minutes to reach the wall. The spotlights focused on them, making them stand out in the darkening world. They could see two men in each tower; one controlling the spotlight and the other holding a gun trained on them. The wall went over their heads and then some, nearly ten feet of concrete in each wall section. Behind the wall they could see the tops of the buildings, nothing more.

Arianna took a running step ahead of them and began to wave her right arm above her head. "It's me; Arianna!" she called up to the towers.

One of the men reached down and pressed something, and a large section of wall in front of them began to lower into the ground. Once it had completely lowered, they walked inside; Wufei still supported by Heero and Duo.

The four conscious boys were amazed at what was behind the walls. Multitudes of dark-colored buildings, many of them no larger than two stories, were completely surrounded by the black wall.

Quatre looked around, his eyes wide with amazement and surprise. "This is where you live? This isn't a home; this is a military base!"

"Of course," said Arianna, a small smile appearing on her face as a dozen people came rushing out of a building with a stretcher. "We're the Forgotten."

The stretcher bearers were the first to arrive, a male with short dark hair and a female with wavy brown hair past her shoulders, who carefully removed Trowa from Wufei's shoulders and put him on the stretcher. As they did, a loud voice came from the direction the stretcher-bearers did. The voice was definitely female, with a Hispanic accent.

"ARIANNA!"

The girl in question visibly cringed.

"Who is that?" asked Quatre.

"Maria," she said before turning around to face the voice.

Maria was a tall woman with long black wavy hair and a large bust. However, she looked strong enough to deal with any man that came along and decided to try to take advantage of her. She was wearing blue jeans with a dark gray tank top and combat-style boots as she ran up to them. She stopped in front of Arianna and promptly captured the girl in a hug. Arianna weakly attempted to struggle and fend off the smothering kisses to her forehead and cheeks.

"Maria… I'm fine…"

The smothering stopped and Maria held the girl out at arm's length. "You scared me half to death, young lady! Don't you ever run off like that again!"

Arianna's head fell and her eyelids drooped. "I'm sorry Maria…"

One of the woman's eyebrows lowered. "Arianna?"

"Your new patient… has Tiberium poisoning… I pulled out the shard…" She weakly lifted her hands so the woman could see them.

Maria gasped. The flesh surrounding the wounds had turned a shade of green, meaning the poisoning was already into its later stage.

Arianna suddenly collapsed, her knees buckling underneath her. Maria quickly moved to catch her, sweeping the girl up into her arms. The four boys quickly jogged to the woman, who ignored them and quickly turned to follow the stretcher-bearers with the wounded young man.

It was that split second her black hair was left trailing behind that Heero, Duo, Quatre, and Wufei saw the small, green crystals growing on her temples.

Their eyes all widened and the glanced at each other. What the heck was going on? First entire cities are being destroyed, citizens being killed, then there's the green crystals and the things living in it, an army with half human, half machine infantry, and now there's people with crystal's growing on their faces? The four boys ran to follow the woman, questions running through their minds at an incredible speed.

The infirmary looked similar to all the other buildings with its dark outward appearance. But the inside was lighter; the walls were light gray with heavy steel doors in all the doorways. There were lots of rooms with two beds in each, only allowing two patients in each room. Trowa and Arianna were both put into the same room, plus six other people that had collected: the four other pilots, Maria, and the female stretcher-bearer. Maria was re-bandaging Trowa's leg and the other female, who Maria called Katherine, bandaged Arianna's hands. The four boys stood back by the door and waited anxiously to hear the diagnosis. When they were finished, both of the patients were resting comfortably. Maria turned to face the four boys, who were watching her very carefully with anxious eyes.

She sighed. "Arianna will most likely make it, since the toxins didn't have long to collect before their source was moved."

"And Trowa?" asked Wufei, urging her to continue.

"I honestly don't know," she sighed, shaking her head and exposing the crystals growing on her face. "He might make it and he might not. We won't know until he wakes up or he dies."

Duo raised his hand like he was in school. "Excuse me, but could you tell us what exactly is going on? Like when did these green crystals show up and why are entire cities being destroyed?"

Maria looked at him, confused. "Don't you know about the Tiberium War?"

All four shook their heads. "The last war we heard of was the Marimaya War," said Heero.

"I read about that in the history books," spoke Katherine, who was leaning against the wall near Trowa's bed. "That was in After Colony 200, I think."

"Actually," corrected Quatre. "It was After Colony 197, about New Year's Day."

Katherine raised one eyebrow slightly. "You boys must've paid really good attention in history class if you remembered that much."

"What history class?" asked Duo with a snort. "We fought in that war."

The two women's faces changed to disbelief. "That's not possible; you have to be lying," the younger one accused.

"He's not," countered Heero. "All five of us fought in that war. I was there when Dekim Barton was killed."

Maria looked confused. The four boys looked completely serious, even though what they were saying was impossible. "You boys couldn't have been in that war. It ended over 1,800 years ago."

The pilots could have sworn their jaws would have hit the floor. There was a long moment where no one said a word.

Duo was the first to recover. "You're joking, right? Because this is so NOT funny."

Maria shook her head. "Sorry. We're not entirely sure what year it is exactly, but it's close to After Colony 2030."

Quatre took a shaky step backwards. "I think I need to sit down…" He promptly sat on the ground, his legs crossed and his elbows resting on his knees, rubbing his temples with his index and middle fingers.

Duo began to pace across the room, his hair trailing behind him like a tail each time he turned. He started rubbing his own temples, feeling a headache coming on. "Okay. I'm confused. How did we go from living in A.C. 197 to A.C. 2030? What happened to us between then and now?"

Maria walked over to him and as he passed, she took hold of his shoulders, making him stop and look up at her. "First of all, stop pacing. You're making me nervous. Second of all, I can tell you what's been going on recently and where these green crystals came from."

"We're listening," agreed Heero as took the back of Duo's shirt and pulled him back towards the rest of the pilots.

Author's note: I'm evil. I know. Next one coming sometime.